Becoming Human: A Devotion on Genesis 1-11ናሙና

Two of the people I love most in the world are my godsons. At the ages of 7 and 9, I don’t think I have a greater honour, nor many more opportunities for fun. Life just doesn’t get much better than when we arrange epic battles that, I imagine, compete with the kind of thing you see on WrestleMania or Gladiators. But after we are all tired out, it's nearly bedtime; we collapse onto the sofa, and they bring me a story to read. Now, I love reading bedtime stories and think I’m pretty good at it. So imagine the dent in my pride when picking up the classic ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’ and being told that I wasn’t doing the right voices for the characters! At least, I wasn’t doing the voices that they imagined the characters having.

When we read stories, the voice we give to the characters makes up so much of the reading experience. It allows us to connect to the characters differently and can set the tone for the whole story. When we read the story of Noah and the Flood, I think many of us fall into the trap of using ‘the wrong kind of voice.’ Let me explain.

The flood is a story that we almost always associate with Noah’s Ark. But historically, we find that there are hundreds of other versions of an ancient great flood. Many that hold similar characteristics. For example, one we find is ‘the Epic of Gilgamesh.’ This flood story originates from the dynasty of Ur (if that sounds familiar, it’s because it’s the land in which Abraham comes from). It holds some striking similarities to the Genesis account, except we find that the gods who send the flood cripple themselves with infighting and secret keeping. The man who builds a boat does so on secret advice from one of the gods behind the back of another. The storm that takes place is so great that it almost drowns the gods themselves. In the end, after more quarrelling about the justice of the flood from the god, the man is granted eternal life and a ‘god-like’ status. Why does this matter? Well, the story of Noah’s Ark has not always been taken by itself. When it has been told in history, there are times when it would have naturally been compared to other flood stories. The commonalities would have been read over as usual, but the differences would have stood out and pointed the reader to what this Hebrew God was really like. Firstly, we find one God, all-powerful, all-just, and in control. He doesn’t almost drown himself, and there is no question in the text about the justice of his actions. Secondly, he comes to Noah and willingly tells him of his plans, not just destruction but redemption. The voice we attribute to God should not be emphasized as a flood sender (all flood stories have that in common). When we do, the voice of God becomes a booming, condemning voice. Ready to smite us at any point that we stray too far from the path. For us today, it may feed into a subconscious voice that God is distant, standing on the other side of the road, rolling his eyes when we make mistakes. Perhaps a God who loves us but doesn’t really like us. Yet, the voice that causes the Hebrew God to stand out among the others is not just his power or his justice (although both are evident), but ultimately his relationship with Noah. We find this at the end of the story.

If you read the beginning of chapter 8, we read a curious phrase:

But God remembered Noah…

- Genesis 8:1a

That’s weird. Did God forget Team Noah? Was he otherwise distracted? No. In the other stories of the flood, that would be the story we would expect to read. But not in this one. In this one, the powerful remember the powerless. He calms the storms. He separates waters from land and breathes new life into it. It is a story that we have read before in the creation. This time, though, there is a recognition that everything isn’t as neat and tidy as before. After giving the ark safe passage and bringing it to rest, we find in the final part of chapter 8:

Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.”

- Genesis 8:20-21

Even though we are unfaithful. Even though sin will continue to go in its ever-expanding rampage and organize itself into empires that ravage the earth. In this story, though, we discover a God who remains faithful. Who, instead of focusing on destruction, offers us partnership and redemption. We hear a different voice from the one we might expect. A voice that I think is heard best in a poem spoken from the lips of a creator God who promises his personal presence forever:

“As long as the earth endures,

seedtime and harvest,

cold and heat,

summer and winter,

day and night

will never cease.”

- Genesis 8:22